Local teacher chosen for national program by Library of Congress

Tami Holihan, an instructor at Mendon Center Elementary School in Pittsford, has been selected from a pool of more than 400 applicants to participate in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute.

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By Julie Sherwood

MPNnow

By Julie Sherwood

Posted Jul. 16, 2014 at 6:00 PM

By Julie Sherwood

Posted Jul. 16, 2014 at 6:00 PM

Tami Holihan, an instructor at Mendon Center Elementary School in Pittsford, has been selected from a pool of more than 400 applicants to participate in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute for the week of July 21 to 25.

“Each year, the Library of Congress provides the opportunity for a carefully chosen group of K-12 educators to attend one of its five teacher institutes in Washington, D.C.,” according to a release. “During the five-day program, participants work with Library education specialists and subject-matter experts to learn effective practices for using primary sources in the classroom, while exploring some of the millions of digitized historical artifacts and documents available on the Library’s website (www.loc.gov.)”

Educators attending the teacher institutes develop primary-source-based teaching strategies that they can take back to their school districts, apply in the classroom and share with colleagues.

“Teaching with primary sources is a powerful way to help students ask engaged, probing questions, develop critical-thinking skills, and gain knowledge,” according to the Library of Congress. “All educators can access classroom materials, teaching tools and strategies for teaching with primary sources from the Library’s site for teachers at www.loc.gov/teachers/."

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources—accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience. Students working with primary sources become engaged learners while building critical-thinking skills and constructing new knowledge. Teachers working in the Library's collections will explore the largest online collection of historical artifacts with access to millions of unique primary sources for use in instruction,” stated the release.